Prof Okonjo’s Kidnap: Daughter, Family Members Seek Spiritual Help •Mark Pleads With Abductors •Gunmen Kill Soldier, Kidnap Lebanese In Delta •‘Payment Of Ransom Aids Kidnapping’

YOUNGER sister of the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Njide, her friends and other family members have resorted to spiritual help, in the ongoing search for the kidnapped Professor Kanene Okonjo.  

Njide, who posted her resolve on the popular social networking site, Facebook, said she was trusting in God for her mum’s safe return from her captives.

In the post accessed on Tuesday, Njide said she had been unable to sleep after hearing the news of her mother’s kidnap.

“Unable to sleep. God, please protect my mom. A wonderful, selfless mom. She sacrificed so much for us. Thanks to all my friends and family for your prayers and well-wishers, let us keep the prayers for her safe return,” she posted.

Njide, said to be the only sister of Ngozi, is said to be a medical practitioner in Maryland, United States of America.

Her friend, who also claimed to have been in contact with Njide, Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo, also posted: “We are deep in prayers. Stay strong. Evil never wins. The whole country is praying.”

Another post on Njide’s Facebook account, posted by Aisha Umar, also read: “We are praying for her safe return. Almighty God will protect you.”

Some sources close to the Ministry of Finance, also on Tuesday, confirmed that the Okonjo family had resorted to spiritual help, to get their matriarch freed from her abductors.

It was also gathered in Abuja that staffers of the ministry were also engaging in fasting and prayers to get Professor (Mrs) Okonjo freed from  the kidnappers.

A source, on Tuesday, said concerned members of staff of the ministry had, on Monday, begun a three -day fasting and prayer session for the safety of the minister’s mother.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, said staff of the ministry had centered their prayers on the safety of Professor (Mrs) Okonjo since Monday morning.

Also in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade (retd), directed the Inspector General of Police, M. D. Abubakar, to deploy more officers from the Force headquarters to assist in freeing the mother of the finance minister.

The minister, at the opening of a two-day workshop on “Budgeting for Effective Policing in Nigeria,” said “it is a very disturbing issue. But the police must take into cognisance that we have a role to let others know that such incidents will be given equal treatment. It could have been the mother of anybody.”

Olubolade also said besides the challenges of insecurity such as terrorism, kidnapping, robberies and rape cases, the police also needed further resources to tackle insurgency.

Represented by the chairman, House Committee on Police, Honourable Usman Bello Kumo, the minister said “while we are waiting for improved funding to come from the police reform programme, we must note that the Nigeria Police, being the only organisation recognised by the constitution to police the nation, is a Federal Government agency, which must subject itself to budgetary processes.”

While commenting on the huge debt profile owed police contractors and the planned protest march by the contractors in Abuja, the minister said “these debts you are talking about were not incurred under my administration. However, I came out with a policy, whereby certain percentages of our budget are reserved for servicing the debt.”

Meanwhile, SENATE President David Mark has called on abductors of Professor Mabel Kamene Okonjo, mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to release her unconditionally.

Mark, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Kola Olagbodiyan, urged the kidnappers to honour the biblical injunction to respect the elderly.

“The abduction of any Nigerian is condemnable. The abduction of the mother of a notable Nigerian like Dr Okonjo-Iweala is an attack on the international reputation of our dear country,” he said.

Abductors, the Senate President noted,  were causing the nation’s reputation grave harm among the comity of nations.

He said such crimes were not different from the killings being perpetrated by the Boko Haram sect, urging the police to intensify efforts in securing the release of Professor (Mrs) Okonjo and bring her abductors to book.

Meanwhile, While the security operatives are still making frantic efforts to rescue Professor Kamene Okonjo from the hands of her abductors,  there was palpable fear at Ekiugbo community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, on Tuesday, when a soldier was murdered and an expatriate kidnapped in the process by faceless gunmen.

The expatriate, a Lebanese, identified as Mr Harry Fadi, is a staff of Setraco Nigeria Ltd, a construction company based in the community.

Two other staffers of the company, an operator and a female passerby, were also victims of stray bullets during the gun duel that ensued between the kidnappers and security operatives attached to the company’s expatriate workers.

The Lebanese was abducted at about 8.00 a.m in the company’s construction site in the community.

It will be recalled that two weeks ago, two expatriate staff and a Nigerian official of the firm, supervising the dualisation of the East/West Road, were also kidnapped at Gbarigolor community in Ughelli South Local Government Area.

The Nigerian Tribune learnt that the soldier, who until his death was attached to the company, died of gun wounds shortly after he was rushed to a private hospital in the area, while the woman was taken to an undisclosed hospital for treatment.

Eyewitnesses said the Lebanese was whisked to an unknown destination in a Mercedes Benz 190, while the company’s operator sustained a minor burn from the gun pellets.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Charles Muka, kept sealed lips on the matter when contacted, saying the question be directed at the Military Joint Task Force, which could not be reached as of press time.

Meanwhile, THE Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of zone two, comprising Lagos and Ogun states,  Alhaji Mamman Tsafe, on Tuesday, said that the act of kidnapping remained high in Nigeria because of the ransom paid by relatives of victims of kidnapping.

Tsafe said this while speaking with newsmen in Abeokuta, during his official working visit to the state.

It will be recalled that the state recorded no fewer than five kidnapping cases in the outgoing year.

“The surge was caused by the ransom paid by abducted victims’ families.

“I can assure you that our zone is doing everything humanly possible to tackle it,” he said.

He bemoaned the un-cooperative attitude of relations of victims of kidnapping for not giving the police opportunity to rescue victims before paying the ransom demanded by kidnappers.

“Kidnappers indulge in it because they make more money from it now than any other crime.  We know the psychological trauma that relations of victims usually go through when this happen.

“I implore relations of victims of kidnapping to cooperate with the police by not succumbing easily to intimidation and threats by the kidnappers,” he added

Source: Tribune